1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an interface connector used to connect between electronic devices such as AV (Audio Visual) equipment.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known that some electronic devices such as portable AV equipment including digital cameras are connected with a personal computer through a cradle. To connect electronic devices through a cradle, the contacts of a plug connector for the cradle are connected with a receptacle connector of the electronic device body (hereinafter, “receptacle”) and are arranged to meet the terminals of the receptacle.
Both of the receptacle and the plug to be connected generally have shield cases that fit each other, and, when the receptacle and plug fit, the shield case of the plug fits into the shield case of the receptacle.
In the receptacle, a plurality of terminals in the shield case of the receptacle are aligned orthogonal to the fitting direction in the top and bottom surfaces on a flat housing disposed in the shield case.
On the other hand, the plug, which is an interface connector to be connected with the receptacle, has a slit formed in the center portion of the housing in the shield case, and the flat housing of the receptacle is inserted in this slit. In the opposing wall parts sandwiching this slit, a plurality of contacts are arranged in a direction (i.e. longitudinal direction) orthogonal to the direction in which the contacts fits with the receptacle. A plurality of contacts arranged in the opposing wall parts are arranged to face each other across the slit, and, when the plug is inserted in the receptacle, sandwich the housing of the receptacle in the slit and are connected with the terminals of the flat housing.
These plug-side contacts are disposed in the opposing wall parts of the housing to extend along the fitting direction from contact point portions seen in the slit toward the rear surface (i.e. the end surface on the fitting direction side), are guided from the rear surface to the outside and make end parts that are bent to extend in the direction apart from the opposing contacts across the slit lead parts to be connected with patterns in a substrate.
Recently, accompanying the miniaturization of equipment to be mounted, the plug itself is miniaturized in size and there is a demand to narrow the pitches (i.e. make pitches narrower) between contacts aligned in the longitudinal direction.
However, with the plug of the above configuration, if the pitches between the contacts arranged in the opposing surfaces sandwiching the slit in the plug housing are made narrower, the pitches between the lead parts bent to extend from the rear surface of the housing are made narrower as in the contact portions of the contacts.
That is, the pitches between the lead parts which are mounting portions of the plug narrow and the plug needs to be mounted on the substrate such that touch between adjacent lead parts is prevented, and, therefore, there is a problem that mounting the connector is difficult and laborious.